Ongoing History Daily: The history of lip-syncing (part 1)
We’ve all seen when artists pretend to sing a song when they’re just miming the words to a pre-recorded track.
Once upon a time, lip-syncing was considered to be a massive cheat, both on the part of the artist and when it came to audiences who went to concerts expecting to see a real performance. The outrage was such that there were even laws passed outlawing lip-syncing at concerts.
In fact, you still can’t lip-sync legally in New Hampshire because of a 1993 law that imposed “duties on promoters, places of musical entertainment and ticket agents to disclose whether all the lead vocals of a musical performance featuring vocals are pre-recorded.” No one can seem to find any record of the law being enforced, but the fact that it’s still on the books tells you something.
More on lip-syncing next time.
